Friday, August 21, 2015

One of the least accessible and most photographed vistas in the American Southwest is Antelope Canyon.Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona is home to some magnificent slot canyons. According to Wikipedia, the Navajo people have a name for the Upper Antelope Canyon - Tsé bighánílíní - which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Slot canyons are chasms eroded over eons by wind and rain and raging floods to create one of the most spectacular natural masterpieces. Antelope Canyon is located on the Navajo Reservation and can only be accessed by licensed tours with a guide and a permit to visit them. At certain times of the day, light penetrates the canyons bathing the entire area in a haze of liquid gold. At certain places magical shafts of light - sometimes referred to as "God Spots" - penetrate to the canyon floor, as if a cosmic stage performance is about to begin. These magic shafts of light only penetrate the secret chambers of the canyons for around 30 minutes each day from late May to late June.The undulating views of the sandstone walls play with your depth perceptions and make for fantastic living sculptures that will continue to shift and change with the coming years.

I loved all the pictures, but this one drew me in. And as luck had it..I had beads that I thought would pay homage to the wonderful earthy colors of the cave. I had several designs in mind, but life has really gotten in my way the past few weeks so I was only able to do one. I hope to finish up the other ideas I had and post at a later date.

So here is my offering for this challenge. I thread wrapped the beads back and forth around the silver tone metal earring hoops.

The stones just seem to mimic the swirls, dips, and rises in the stones of the cave. Beautiful earthly colors. For more great ear candy by other designers check out Erin's blog page.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Again I have embarked on another challenge hosted by Lisa Lodge at A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasure. I was supposed to have posted yesterday, but life got in the way. So here is my offering for Seed Bead Explosion.

Luckily I remembered to take a picture of the beads she sent. I have never worked with the mini duos or double holed spikes before so I had to do some research into designs.

My first piece I used a spiral pattern using most of the beads in the kit. Then using the brick stitch created the pendant. (My first go at the brick stitch). I changed the beads sizes and color combo's about every 4 inches in the necklase. I used a simple toggle clasp in the back.

For the earrings I used the brick stitch again to go around the circle.

For the duos I used a design I found on Bead Fusion and then added the spikes. It didn't come out quite like I had planned, so it will have to sit on the back burner for now til I have time to play more with it.

My third piece which I never got to start because life got in the way will be using the two holed triangles. If you follow my blog, I should have it finished in a couple of weeks and will post it here.

Monday, August 10, 2015

This is the time of the year everyone dreams of the ocean, but can't always get there. So Znetshows challenged us to come up with beach themed jewelry for their fantastic summer issue of Creative Spark using their awesome sea glass beads. Along with the jewelry challenge we were also given the chance to come up with something non-jewelry. So I decided to use the sea glass beads that I got from znetshows to create some crocheted "feet-candy" or in other words some crocheted sandals that could be worn to the beach.

I used cotton crochet thread so that should your feet get wet the yarn would not be affected. In the first pair I used the Turquoise Bay Spike Beads by leaving open spaces in the crochet for them to come through.

For this set I used Turquoise Bay Double Holed Beads in oval shape and dark blue spacer beads that had come with some dark blue sea glass I had purchased before from Znetshows. I then added some "beachy" charms. This was a very simple crochet project with just a loop for the toe and crocheted straps to go around the ankle. Again I had used the cotton crochet thread so if you decided to wade in the cool sea waters, your sweet "foot candy" wouldn't be damaged.

For this next set I again used the cotton crochet thread. I also used Teal Hour Glass beads along with white spacer sea glass beads and "beachy" themed charms.

As soon as summer slows a bit for me I will post the crochet tutes showing how I made them. So stay tuned and I wish everyone a safe and happy summer!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Time again for a new challenge. This revel is another one from Lisa Lodge at A Grateful Artist/Pine Ridge Treasures. She host the best challenges with such beautiful colors and beads. I like to join her's and others to make myself think and work outside the box.

The colors for this challenge are just so mellow that I knew I would have to keep my designs simple. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the goodies she sent as I was so excited to get my package. But I will try to point them out as I go.

Up first is a piece I would call Spring Garden. The colors just so remind me of a spring garden after the rain. There are soft pink glass beads in both rows. The first row has the larger pink glass beads and the second the smaller pink glass beads. Those came with the challenge. The green glass beads I used as accents are some I had on hand. The larger purplish pink glass beads I had on hand and have been wanting to use them. I paired them up with silver bead caps . I also used dark maroony purple beads with the green beads on the first row.

I used small bead caps to capture the strands and a silver toggle clasp. The necklace is 18 inches long.

The next two necklaces I made more as choker styled to try something different. I made this picture larger so you could see the little purple drops along the bottom and the purple rounds on top. I used a pattern I found on Fusion Beads. It is a Flat Spiral Rope design and made sure as I stitched I put drops and rounds in the right spot. I was trying for a different color with the purple. The turquoise and large purple beads are mine. the drops and the small rounds are from the challenge.

I did a chain with lobster clasp as the closure. Really enjoyed trying out this stitch. wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

These are the earrings I made to match.

This design I came up with while looking through my stash of beads. The pink beads are glass chips and are irregular in shape. The purple squares are metal. I wired them together using silver tone wire. It too came out as a choker style.

I used a simple s-clasp for this necklace.

These are the earrings I made to match.

And last but not least, I made a bracelet. The green and purple beads are from the challenge. I had checked out a book called The Art Of Beadwork by Jane Lock and found this pattern called Loop the Loop Bracelet and really liked it. So I used her instructions and the green seed beads and both purple drop beads from the challenge to make this bracelet. It has pink seed beads as the core that were in the challenge also.This was an interesting design to make as it looked easier in the book...but I stuck with it and it came out really well.

The only problem is that the loop I made to go over the large pink bead from the challenge would quite go over, so I am going to have to do some rework, but for the pictures I used a toggle bar.